


Two Pair Reverie

by rocknlobster



Category: Jurassic Park (Movies)
Genre: Gen, non-explicit reference to violence and death, spoilers for all the movies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 12:35:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1093933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rocknlobster/pseuds/rocknlobster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Muldoon remembers the men he failed to save, and considers the raptor that’s made his life more complicated. Grant remembers the kids he saved, and worries about the grad student who's made his life more complicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Pair Reverie

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pikkugen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pikkugen/gifts).



> prompt: Jurassic Park (movies) fic including Billy Brennan, Alan Grant, Robert Muldoon, and Clever Girl

**I.**

Leaves dripped and slapped Robert Muldoon’s jeep loudly as it growled along the service road. Thunder rolled overhead, booming so loudly that even after years spent working in this tropical place his pulse raced with adrenaline. Truthfully, it was more than the thunder at work, though he never let any hint of his thoughts show on his face.

 _They never leave you, the men you lose,_ he mused. _Even the ones who went out of their way to get themselves killed, even they stick with you._ The men he thought of now were not just the rich tourists on hunting safaris, convinced that against them Mother Nature herself had no power. Those people were one of the reasons he had quit hunting in the first place, those men over the years who traded caution for glory and wound up with neither. But his safari days were long past. Now, Muldoon remembered the men maimed and killed in Jurassic Park “construction accidents” – whether truly construction accidents or workers being careless...or the term was used to cover up the unpredictability of the animals’ behavior.

The service road curved a few times, and ahead it prepared to climb a hill leading to the stretch of the tour in front of the Tyrannosaur Paddock. Muldoon had seen his share of death, and was not looking forward to the results of this power outage if it went on much longer. At least the raptor fences were still on; it might be possible to bring the park back under control without too great a cost.

 _Should I have taken that tiger park job?_ Muldoon asked himself, far from the first time. This job had been a good one, though, for the most part. Even when they brought the first group of raptors over from Site B, things stayed well within the normal range of small accidents and problems that crop up in any park. It was that female velociraptor who changed things, the alpha female who killed Jophery during her transfer when he opened the gate of the new Velociraptor Pen. That was the first of a series of unnecessary and wasteful accidents instigated by that troublemaker, and they were starting to wear him down. Accidents happen in any zoo, in any park setting, but this creature was worse than any other Muldoon had dealt with, as far as he was concerned. Now more than ever he felt extremely vindicated that he functionally blackmailed Hammond in order to get at least some semblance of weaponry to use in exactly this circumstance.

As the jeep crested the hill, Muldoon was unprepared for the wreckage that awaited them. Judging by her sudden hiss of breath, Dr. Sattler was as well. The first jeep stood with its doors hanging open, the second was nowhere in sight, and there was bamboo siding and what looked like body parts strewn around. Surveying the damage, the tracks and signs of what transpired, witnessing the pieces of what appeared to be the lawyer judging by the shoe they found – all these things he accomplished with a hard set to his jaw. _At least Nedry left the raptor fences alone, even if he did take the jeep with my weapons_ was starting to ring hollow now.

He and Dr. Sattler loaded the injured Malcolm into the jeep, found evidence that Dr. Grant and both children had headed off into the park on their own. _I have to find that damn Nedry and my tranqs,_ Muldoon thought grimly. _As soon as possible._ He would get the park back under control as soon as the power was turned back on. They would avoid any other casualties. That gnawing sensation in the pit of his stomach whenever he thought about the alpha raptor was rightful and proper, but it would never grow beyond that. _If it is the last damn thing I do I will get this park back in order_ , he thought as the jeep kicked up plumes of mud as they tore away from the deafening tyrannosaur and back into the wet slap of ferns and unnatural darkness of the powerless park.

 

**II.**

As Alan Grant slowly stopped coughing from the well-timed tear gas that drove away the raptors, he couldn’t help but compare this catastrophe to the last time someone with seemingly bottomless pockets offered to fund his dig and dragged him into what quickly became a hopeless disaster. _Some things you just can’t forget. Some deaths _..._ _ It was eight years ago, but he remembered it very clearly. He had not known most of the people killed on Isla Nublar, but he regretted them all, named and unnamed. He especially remembered Muldoon with gratitude for drawing off the raptors and letting Ellie get the power back on and escape. Muldoon sacrificed himself for them, whether he intended to or not. Now on this second island of death, Grant felt a resonance with Muldoon’s choice, and despite himself he thought about Billy and what he would do if Billy were threatened and he could save him. _We both work with creatures long-dead; you would think this whole line of thought would be...well, less distressing at least._ He tried to think about something else.

Faced with Ingen’s monsters again – including some he had never seen before and were decidedly _not_ on the list he’d been shown – he felt inundated with a strange sort of déjà vu. The comparison stuck in the back of his mind as he chatted with Eric. Part of the Isla Nublar debacle had been rewarding too, he remembered. That feeling when the kids fell asleep on him in the chopper heading away from Jurassic Park was entirely unlike any he had experienced in any professional or personal experience. Despite some immature moments they held their own impressively. _They_ _did a hell of a lot better than the lawyer_ , he thought with something between aversion and sadness. _But he didn’t deserve to die either._

Of course this time it was the kid who had saved _him_ , and Grant found himself completely at peace with this development. He _liked_ Eric Kirby in a way that the pre-Isla Nublar Grant would have probably dismissed cynically. The island had changed him; it seemed to have changed all the people who survived in one way or another. He had heard about Ian Malcolm’s encore escape from this very island, was it four years ago? Grant mused that the man seemed doomed to be incorrigible, but at least his near-death experience seemed to bring him back down to earth significantly from the rock star he once was. In fact, if he remembered correctly, Malcolm and Hammond worked together to preserve Site B and prevent the destruction of the animals. _Pity_ , Grant couldn’t help but think as he sat with Eric in the overturned truck, waiting for dawn. The irony of the situation was palpable. Or possibly it was the humidity.

The relief when they found the others the next day hit harder than he expected. He had not allowed himself to consider the possibility that Billy would not survive the night. Resourceful, brave Billy could do it if anyone could. And despite the unmitigated wreck Eric’s parents had caused, he was reasonably happy to see them intact, for Eric’s sake if nothing else. The booking agent apparently did not make it; one more in the tally the Kirbys were racking up. _There is no way to make that right,_ Grant thought, as he ran once again from the never-ending reverse-buffet that was now his life. Hopefully this new building offered a way down to the river and quickly off this damnable island. 

But then Billy.... It all happened too fast; there was nothing he could do...out-heroed by a man he intended to protect. Billy was dead. Grant and the Kirbys ran once again through the jungle, this time missing the only person who really mattered. _Billy didn’t deserve that,_ Grant repeated in his head like a mantra. Survival instincts took over as they made their escape, trekked through the jungle and down the river. But throughout, a part of his mind remained fixed on Billy, on enthusiastic, naïve Billy who was so young, really. _I should never have let him come with us. I should not have let him come anywhere near this damn island._ _But really, would there have been any way to stop him?_ Billy was young and maybe blind to some things but he took to things he wanted like a dog to a bone.

There was some justice in the raptors believing Eric’s mother had stolen the eggs. _It would serve them right if the raptors decided to eat them._ At this point although survival was still a priority, Grant allowed himself to engage in some internal pessimism. This pessimism was partly ameliorated by the welcome sounds of rescue, but even the knowledge that he was going to live was not enough to distract him from his anger at Billy’s fate.

Then everything turned a bit sideways and Billy was _alive_ , and although badly injured seemingly none the worse for wear otherwise. He looked extremely cheerful, _which_ , Grant mused to himself, _is only fair considering his life expectancy’s increase from zero to a great life digging up dinosaur bones having faced down the real-ish ones._ Billy looked even _more_ pleased with himself when he held up Grant’s hat, to which he could only reply inadequately, as words were simply refusing to come.

More déjà vu, he settled into his helicopter seat and left another deathtrap island, this one if anything worse than the last. He couldn’t even muster a reaction to seeing the pteranodons soaring off into their brave new world.

At least this time he still managed to leave, and hadn’t lost his favorite hat...or his favorite grad student. His partner, really. _Some things stay with you, I guess,_ Alan Grant mused, pulling his hat down over his eyes.

 


End file.
